WF Logo Design Contest

After speaking with a number of people and getting input from various WFies we've come up with the rules for the WF Logo Design Contest!

Every artist will have until Feb 28th to design and submit their logo(s) for consideration. Artists may submit more than one logo for consideration. Artists should understand that when they submit their logo it is assumed that their logo is licensed under the GPL+FDL. Please submit all of your logos in a JPG or PNG image suitable for viewing on the web. If your logo is the winner we will also need the unscaled and unflattened source file (i.e. PSD for Photoshop users, XCF for GIMP users etc.) for the logo so please don't flatten your source files. If your source file is too large to be uploaded to a web page please just upload a jpg or png file and we can work out the logistics of obtaining a source file from you. For a very good outline on the types of things you should consider when designing your logo go to the page linked below and search for "Tess Snider".
January general@ Mailing List Archive

Artists may ask for peer review on the media@ mailing list and refine their logo entry(s) before submitting their logo for judging. When an artist has completed the final version of their logo design based upon the rules below he/she will upload their logo(s) somewhere on the web and notify the media mailing list (media@worldforge.org) of their location. I will gather all of the logos from their various locations and place them on a page for a panel of WFie judges to evaluate.

Below is the list of rules and criteria upon which logos will be judged:

The design should scale well down to very small resolutions (icon sizes for example) and still retain its cohesiveness. You may submit a separate bitmap as part of your logo entry specifically for small scale use. Logos which scale well and don't require another version for small scale get extra brownie points. ;-)
The design should be simple enough so that it is suitable for B&W, greyscale and color media. You may submit a separate bitmap as part of your logo entry specifically for B&W/greyscale use. Logos which look good no matter the color they're used in and don't require another version for B&W/greyscale use are preferred.
Logos should look good in a number of settings: t-shirts, print, letterheads, coffee mugs, cd covers and just about any other place we can think of to plaster the new logo.
The new logo should have elements in common with our old logo. In deference to the recognition and brand we've created with the old logo our new logo should contain one or all of the following elements from our old logo: an anvil, a sword or a globe/map to help foster familiarity when someone sees our new logo. If your new logo is sufficiently compelling you can get away with ignoring this point. ;-)
Logo designs must me easily translatable into a vector format if a vector file isn't provided.
Logos submitted in a vector (or a common 3d) format will be a bonus but not required. If you don't know the constraints of creating vector media please ask someone. If you submit your entry in bitmap form the resulting bitmap should be at least 2000x2000 in size (even larger is better).

The WFie judges will discuss the submitted logos and narrow the field down to four entries. Judges cannot vote for their own entries.

The WFie judges are as follows: Alriddoch, SherwoodSpirit, Malcolm, Pato and Bear

If the judges are unable to come to a consensus about which four logos should move on to the next phase there will be a points based voting system implemented to reach a decision. If this eventuality occurs each judge will get twelve points to distribute to the four logos of their choice in any manner they see fit. ie Judge One Votes 9pts for Entry#1, 1pt for Entry#2, 1pt for Entry#3 and 1pt for Entry #4. The four logos with the highest point totals move on to the next phase.

After the judges narrow down the field to four logos there will be a popular vote held on general@ to decide the winner. The first place logo will become the official WorldForge Logo and the artist will get their choice of two of the prizes from our prize pool which I'll list later. The second, third and fourth place logos will get to choose one of the remaining prizes in the prize pool based upon the order in which they placed.

Current Prize Pool:

3D Creature Workshop 2nd Edition
Animation Master 2000 Handbook
Game Programming Gems
Game Developers Marketplace
Game Design: Secrets of the Sages
Blender Tutorial Guide 1
Blender Tutorial Guide 2
3D Graphics & Animation: From Starting Up to Standing Out
Baldur's Gate + Tales of the Sword Coast Expansion Pack
(more stuff to come)

Please feel free to add to the prize pool list if you have something (a game, book or other geeky item) you'd like to donate. If you don't have zope access and have an item you'd like to donate I'll add your item email if you'll me (jason at oppel dot net) about it. I'll gladly reimburse you for the shipping required to send any prizes to the winnners.